DCS settles lawsuit in toddler's death

Indiana’s Department of Child Services has settled its part of a lawsuit involving the 2009 beating death of 16-month-old Alissa Guernsey.

But the couple who took the baby in when her mother, a relative, struggled with drug use still face trial in December in the wrongful-death civil case.

A DCS spokeswoman said the paper work on the agreement has not been finalized. LaGrange County attorney Kevin Likes, who represents Alissa’s mother, Kelli Sprunger, confirmed this week DCS has agreed to pay $150,000.

“Settlements are often a means of sparing the families and the state years of costly litigation. In no way does a settlement amount reflect the value of a child's life, nor fault of any party,” DCS spokeswoman Stephanie McFarland said in a statement. “A child's life can never be restored with such actions.”

DCS had removed Alissa Guernsey and two siblings from her mother’s home and placed them with Christy Shaffer, Sprunger’s cousin, and her family, records show.

Within a few months, Alissa was pronounced dead, her body riddled with various injuries. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Christy Shaffer was indicted on two B felony counts of neglect of a dependent and — although she denied ever hitting the child or causing the girl’s death — pleaded guilty to one of the counts. She was sentenced to four years in prison. A judge ordered her release after she served 77 days.

The lawsuit contends the DCS caseworker did not pay enough attention to the number of times the toddler was taken to doctors for bruises and other injuries, or to the fact that Shaffer did not often let the caseworker or Sprunger see the girl.

The caseworker, who had worked for DCS a little more than a year when Alissa died, said in a deposition earlier this year that she no longer works for the agency.

Likes said this week he considers the $150,000 mediated settlement a victory, especially in light of the many legal hurdles involved with suing a government entity.

“It’s certainly not nuisance money,” Likes said.

Sprunger said she plans to use that money quickly for another of her daughters, who is disabled and urgently needs surgery.

Christy Shaffer, who has not responded to Tribune efforts to contact her, acknowledged earlier this year in a deposition related to the lawsuit that Alissa had been healthy when she moved in with the Shaffers. Under questioning, she apparently had no more details to offer about how Alissa died than when she was interviewed by law enforcement authorities.

“Can you explain to me how the child got a blunt-force injury to her head?” Likes asked.

“No, I cannot, sir,” Shaffer responded.

“Are you saying that the child didn’t die from a blunt-force injury to the head?” he asked.

Matthew Shaffer, Christy’s husband who was never charged in Alissa’s death, was also asked in a deposition hearing earlier this year about what he believes happened while Alissa and her two siblings lived with them in the house his father-in-law owns. Both Shaffers were unemployed at the time, he said.

“Did you ever see Christy hit Alissa?” Likes asked Matthew Shaffer.

“No, I didn’t,” he replied. “That would have explained a lot.”

“Did you ever see her yank on her arm?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Asked whether his wife has ever offered another version of what happened to Alissa the day she died, he said, “No, she hasn’t. I wish to God I knew what happened.”

“Pardon?” the attorney asked.

“I wish I knew what happened,” Matthew Shaffer repeated.

He was asked whether anyone else had mentioned the possibility of abuse to him.

“No. She had seen so many doctors, nobody could tell me what was wrong with her,” he said. “DCS wasn’t concerned about it. Doctors couldn’t tell me what was going on. I didn’t know what to do.”

A lawsuit involving the family doctor who had repeatedly seen Alissa’s injuries — records compiled after the girl died showed she had been seen by medical authorities at least 15 times over the few months before she died — is ongoing, Sprunger said this week. The doctor’s role in Alissa’s case was the focus of a Tribune article in February, part of the child abuse series “For the Love of Children.”

Likes said the Shaffers have few resources, so it’s unlikely Sprunger would be able to collect much financially from them in punitive damages after a favorable ruling.

“The case against the Shaffers is somewhat symbolic,” he said, noting, however, that judgments are in effect for 20 years.

Sprunger credits Alissa’s death with the bittersweet result of addressing the personal issues that led to her children being removed in the first place, including addictions.

After her daughter died, Sprunger said she hit rock bottom again, eventually finding her way into psychiatric and addictions treatment — and finding God.

“I don’t hate Christy,” said a still-emotional Sprunger, who will turn 33 on Nov. 2 — the birthday she shared with Alissa. “I carried so much of that for so long that it was poisoning me. ... How do I deserve forgiveness as a mother, as a drug addict? I just pray that she asks God for his forgiveness before she leaves this world.”

Sprunger said she owes it to her daughter, who was always called “Bitty-Bitty,” to tell her story and publicize the truth in the hopes it might save other children.

“I would give up all these lawsuits, I would give up all the money in the world if she would just say she did it,” Sprunger said of Christy Shaffer. “I know she did.”